


Banana Fish Drabbles

by Angela



Category: Banana Fish
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-04-24 08:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 3,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14351391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angela/pseuds/Angela
Summary: This is a collection of drabbles and double-drabbles set in the Banana Fish universe. Some are romantic, some are not.





	1. The Morning After

The Morning After  
by Angela  
04-29-07

“Are you surprised?” Eiji asked sleepily, pulling Ash away from his sunrise.

Ash looked at him, at his messed up hair and swollen lips. At the hickey beneath his collarbone and the tangled blankets. Yes, he was surprised. He thought he’d never get to see this. He thought his control was stronger, that he would outlast this passion or die trying. But it wasn’t unexpected; the idea of this morning had been living with him for months.

He shook his head. “It’s been a long time coming,” he said, looking back out at the dawn.

“Yeah,” his friend softly agreed.


	2. Buyer's Remorse

Buyer's Remorse  
by Angela

Only twenty minutes home from the bookstore, and Eiji was bored. He glanced hopefully at Ash, but his friend was engrossed in his novel.

Television then: soap opera . . . commercial . . . game show? But he never understood American games – after a minute, he switched it off.

“Ash?”

“Hmm.” He didn’t look up.

Eiji paced. Prowled the kitchen. Ate crackers.

“You read all day?”

Ash grunted. “You bought comics.”

And read them. Eiji glanced at his stack of Shounen Sunday.

Don’t you wanna get any real books? Ash had asked.

Now he wished he had. Eiji sighed.


	3. Piglet and Pooh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was inspired by a moment between Piglet and Pooh in Winnie the Pooh. <3

Piglet & Pooh  
by Angela  
2-27-09

Sometimes, out of the blue and for no reason, Eiji was swamped with doubt, afraid that every dizzying moment he’d lived since meeting Ash was nothing but a fantasy. Whenever that happened, he would reach out and touch him: his shoulder blade, his arm, the thin tapering of his wrist. Just a brush against warm skin to prove that he was solid and real. 

“What?” Ash would bark, scrutinizing his face.

Eiji always blushed. “Nothing.” And he would pull away, embarrassed and yet comforted.

Ash’s answer was always the same. “Homo,” he’d mutter, shaking his head. Still, his eyes smiled.


	4. Sugar, We're Goin' Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next few were written as part of a drabble challenge involving randomizing your playlist. This first one was inspired by "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" by Fallout Boy.

It only happened once – a drunken fiasco they’d both promised to forget. But Alex kept the memory like a treasure: sometimes taking it out, soaking it in, then carefully storing it back where it would stay safe. He wondered why they’d done it. And why not again?

Eiji. At first Alex resented him for being helpless and naive. When he saw how things really were there were a dozen other reasons, all of them centered on the fact that he’d trade everything to be in the kid’s shoes – those shoes that fell to the floor each night next to Ash’s.


	5. Anna Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by lines in "Anna Begins" by Counting Crows

Eiji rolls over, mumbling Japanese in his sleep and Ash feels the flame of some emotion – love? – burning in his chest. He pulls a pillow over his head and squeezes his eyes shut.

Ash hadn’t planned on this. It didn’t fit into any of his calculations. To be perfectly honest, he’d thought he was immune. He knows he isn’t ready – there are a million reasons why not. How can he look at what he has to do if he sees only Eiji?

He speaks again. It’s soft, drowsy, and adorable, and Ash gets it. God help him, he gets it.


	6. Bring Me to Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence

He came to New Jersey as a favor to someone – just hearing the man out and considering the position was enough to cover an old debt and Blanca couldn’t afford not to take the easy out. It’s hard to start over with obligations looming over your head. 

He never intended to take the job.

It wasn’t the money that changed his mind. It wasn’t the challenge. Or the connections, though all of these would’ve been good enough reasons once. 

It was the boy. His eyes moved something in Blanca’s soul; for the first time in too long, it came alive.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somehow inspired by "You Needed Me" by Anne Murray, though for the life of me I can't remember how....

The boy on the floor crunched his potato chips, letting crumbs fall into the pristine carpet. Yau-Si didn’t scold – even when his soda fizzed into a priceless rug. He just watched. 

They were watching television – a baseball game, if you can believe it.

It’d become a weekly tradition: Chips. Pizza. Yankees game. And Sing.

Yau-Si couldn’t get into it like Sing could – he didn’t know the players' names or swear when the other team scored a run. And he hadn’t yet developed a taste for the greasy American food Sing always brought.

But in its own way, it was fun.


	8. Clumsy Card House

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by "Clumsy Card House" by Blue October

Max didn’t believe in love until he saw Jessica. She ignored the rain – sitting on the park bench, watching the roiling storm clouds. He could tell she was broken: not shattered – cracked just beneath the surface. He saw and wanted to touch her, to hold her.

He had cracks too: a web of fine lines and stress fractures from too many years behind an M-16. Max knew immediately. He needed her. Loved her.

He took a deep breath, then held out his umbrella and an upturned hand. He prayed she wouldn’t refuse him, wouldn’t take offense.

She didn’t; she smiled.


	9. The Hustle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next eight drabbles were written as part of a drabble-request event on Tumblr. Different people gave different prompts.  
> The first: Shorter and Ash hanging out, being buds.

“Seven in the corner pocket,” Shorter calls, motioning with his chin. The cue ball hits the seven with a smack; it banks hard and falls neatly into the pocket.

Ash takes another swig of beer. It’s Shorter’s fifth ball since the break. Only the one and three are left of the solids – meanwhile a table full of stripes wait for Ash to get even one turn. Shorter’s a decent pool player, but tonight he’s a goddamn prodigy.

“The hell’s got you so focused?” Ash asks as his friend sinks another.

Shorter smirks, pausing for a long drag on the cigarette he left perched on the edge of the table. “Whaddya think?” he counters, waggling eyebrows.

“You’re really gonna make me do this?”

“A bet’s a bet, man,” Shorter says. He leans across the table and strikes the cue ball – it spins into the three, sinking the red ball before swerving away.

Finally, he sinks the eight.

“Fuck this!” Ash swigs the last of his beer.

Shorter grins, combing his fingers through his mohawk. They cross the bar toward a pair of girls in tight denim.

“Hi there,” Ash smiles, all charm. “My friend and I wanna buy you a drink.”


	10. Fortunate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Ash and Eiji get Chinese takeout and read their fortunes to each other

Fortunate

The only thing better than Lo Mein (beef and onions and a side of Crab Rangoon) from the Dragon Palace is Lo Mein from the Dragon Palace at 2 AM. Ash slurps his noodles, his way with chopsticks less than perfect (so says Eiji) but serviceable. Meanwhile, Eiji mixes rice into his Mongolian Beef in a way that can be described only as “expert”.

“Fortune-cookie time!” Ash announces at the end.

“They do not have this in China,” Eiji protests, fumbling the wrapper. He loves American Chinese food, but for some reason these always bug him. “They are not real.”

“Of course they’re not real!” But Ash is already cracking his open. He reads it (his heart skips) and reads it again. And suddenly he knows what to do.

He looks up; his breath catches.

Eiji is watching, his eyes bright. “Ash, I want-” But he doesn’t finish.

Because Ash reaches.

And Eiji leans.

When their mouths meet, it’s clumsy (things do improve, as is the way with kissing), but Ash’s hands are strong on Eiji’s shoulders.

The fortunes (not re-discovered until the next morning):

Ash: _You can make your own happiness._

Eiji: _The greatest risk is not taking one._


	11. Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a bit longer - a triple-drabble, if such a thing can be said to exist.  
> Prompt: Shorter and Nadia hanging out at the restaurant

“Shorter!”

Shorter poked through the bins in the fridge. He was in the mood for pizza, but settled for egg rolls. He’d had a shit day; all he wanted was to veg out in front of the TV.

“Shorter!”

He sighed. Nadia was not part of that plan.

“Take this to the dumpster?” She pushed a cart of garbage bags around the corner.

“Got it. Got it.” He waved her off.

She turned back to the dining room, then paused. “And then the dishes!”

He eyed the bags, the heap of pots and pans. What a pain in the ass. Hadn’t she hired a waitress to help with this stuff? “Where’s Vivian?”

“Home. Sick kid.”

Shorter grabbed a beer from the cooler and switched on the radio. He rubbed his raw knuckles. Yep, shit day. The pop of the beer tab echoed against stainless steel.

Immediately Nadia was back. She snatched the can and poured it out. “Trash,” she barked. “Dishes.”

“What the fuck? I’ve had a real bad day!”

She looked hard at him, and he saw the shadows beneath her eyes, the lines around her mouth. “Me too,” she said coldly. “I run this place by myself while you’re out doing god-knows-what with god-knows-who, so I don’t want to hear about your goddamned bad day!”

Mop clenched in one hand, she stalked across the restaurant to finish her work. Shorter watched her, stunned. Nadia almost never got mad – since their parents died, she’d become this mellow, mothering type. He almost liked her better like this.

Except that she looked so tired.

He did the dishes, took out the trash. He ran next door to rent a video.

“Hey Nadia,” he called.

Her eyes narrowed, clearly ready for a fight. “Yeah?”

“ _Flashdance?_ ” He held up the video.

__She smiled._ _


	12. Exchange

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Ash and Eiji as a couple if Ash had lived a normal childhood

Eiji first noticed Ash at lunch. Then in the hallway. It was hard to miss that golden hair. Even peripherally, the exchange student caught Eiji’s attention. He wanted to know him.

He found him alone in the dim library. “Why Japan?” he asked in that first conversation.

“My brother came here in the army.” Ash’s voice was low, reserved. “He loved it.” His Japanese was good, the accent charming. “It’s only a year, but…” He shrugged.

Ash liked books. He liked reading and studying and was always ranked high. He was only sixteen, but a third-year just the same. Eiji liked sports and noise – classrooms were constraining. Sitting still made him twitchy.

They weren’t alike, and yet they became friends.

On summer evenings, they hung out by the river, talking about nothing and everything. Girls walked by and smiled; bold ones would flirt. Eiji liked that Ash acted oblivious.

“You have a girlfriend in Brewster?” he asked as the sun set. Both lived in small towns by the sea.

“No.” A head shake. “I’m not–” he stopped. Started again. “No girlfriend. Ever.” Those green eyes were intense.

Eiji’s whole body thrummed. “Me neither.”

Ash looked away. Smiled. “I’m glad.”


	13. The Lesson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Ash and Eiji alone in their room, maybe on a special occasion, and they decide to dance

Ash watches the sun set, the strains of an old crooner – Como? No, Vic Damone – wafting through the open window from outside. Eiji stands close behind, his body warm, comfortable.

It had been a terrible, bloody day. That might be what makes him turn, sliding his arms around Eiji’s body.

“Wha-?” His face is a jostle of confusion and joy.

“Let’s dance,” Ash urges. “I like this song.”

Eiji steps back, self conscious. “I cannot–”

A cajoling hand slides to Eiji’s waist, tugging him back. Fingers entwine. “Follow my lead,” Ash murmurs, his lips close to Eiji’s ear. Breath exhales in a soft _huff_ and Eiji becomes pliant.

The waltz is dreamy and Damone’s rich baritone winds around them. “ _One_ two three, _one_ two three,” Ash whispers at first, until Eiji’s awkward shuffle smooths and they are dancing.

“Where did you you learn this?” Wonderment in his voice.

Ash’s stock answer: “I had a teacher.”

The song fades into a sultry wisp of jazz and Ash is reluctant to let go. Eiji’s head against his shoulder feels right, the twilight casting deep shadows that make the room unfamiliar. Eiji’s breath is warm on his neck, and Ash is happy.


	14. Every Minute

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Eiji waits up for Ash

It’s almost dawn, goddamn it.

Ash slumps through the door, slipping out of his wet shoes. He’s lost two guys, killed seven. It’s making him sick, but he has to finish what he started, has to show Arthur he isn’t just Golzine’s disposable fucktoy. His whole body screams for sleep, but his mind races. All he really wants is to see–

“Do you even remember I am here?” Eiji’s voice comes from the shadows.

Ash squints, finding him curled on the sofa, his face a stony carving of anger evolved from concern.

“Eiji.” He is just who he needs and yet irritation stirs. Ash sits gingerly on the edge of a nearby chair, minding the blood and his aching body.

“I worry all night,” Eiji continues, “I do not know if you are alive even! And do you think of me at all?” Bare, raw need glows in his face. “Do you?”

Cornered, Ash’s instinct is to snarl, a show of teeth and claws. But this is Eiji, hurt and frightened. He struggles, bites back his growl. He chooses honesty.

Reaching out, he cups Eiji’s jaw in his hand, ignoring blood crusted beneath his nails."Yes," he says. “Every minute.”


	15. Trust I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: The first time Ash felt safe with Eiji

It happened after the kiss-that-wasn’t-a-kiss. Before the trip to my hometown, though. After Eiji stole Charlie’s car, helping me break parole, but before our disgusting dip in the Hudson. Before the shoot-out where I almost – goddamn it, almost! – nailed Golzine.

It must’ve been at Shorter’s then, while we planned our attack over Chinese-style breakfast. Sometime between the dirty deal with the Lees and the stinking fish truck to Club Cod.

Somewhere in there, I started to trust Eiji.

Not an everyday sort of trust, the way I trust Charlie not to be a total dick or how I trust my gang to have my back. Not even the way I could trust Nadia to let some of that love she threw over her brother like a blanket cover me some, too. This was more like the way I trusted Shorter. The way I used to trust Skip. Griff.

I looked at Eiji – doing nothing, killing time at Shorter’s place – and I realized with a jolt that I didn’t mind if he knew everything. I wanted him to, even.

I wanted Eiji Okumura to look at me and I wanted him to see me.

That scared the shit out of me.


	16. Trust II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: The first time Ash felt safe with Eiji  
> (This one inspired two drabbles!)

Eiji’s daydreaming mind slowly refocused on the nagging feeling he was being observed. He looked up – Ash watched him from across the table.

“What?”

Ash didn’t answer and his gaze didn’t waver. In the dim light of Shorter’s apartment, his eyes looked more like moss than jade. Those long lashes blinked slowly, Ash’s expression unreadable. Guarded?

Suddenly intensely aware of himself, Eiji struggled for words in English. “I do something wrong?” As far as he knew, he hadn’t done a thing. He’d been just sitting there, staring out into space. Maybe that was a problem?

“I should help?” Ash had been reading the newspaper, making notes in the margins. It wasn’t something Eiji could help with. He looked around the small room instead, suddenly frantic.

“Maybe I could make the beds?” They hadn’t been made in the four days they’d been there; apparently they were a low priority. But there were stacks of dishes in the sink. “Or wash dishes? I am good at washing.” Did Ash regret letting him stay?

Still no answer. Eiji laughed – nothing was funny, but he couldn’t seem to stop.

“Relax, Eiji. Nothing’s wrong.” A smirk suddenly appeared on Ash’s lips. “I just… like you.”


	17. Cake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next twelve drabbles were written in August to celebrate Ash's birthday. I accepted one-word prompts and wrote exactly 100-word drabbles for each. The first one is "Cake"

“How the hell did you do this?” Max asked, aghast.

Shorter knew the likeness was incredible. Petty vandalism had been his favorite childhood game; he was good with an air brush. Brick wall. Cake. Same technique.

Ibe’s jaw dropped, and Eiji stared. “Why?” he demanded. “Why put me on Ash’s cake?”

Shorter smiled, smug. “It’s his astrological sign. Virgo.”

Eiji’s cheeks flamed scarlet as Max barked a surprised laugh. Even Ibe agreed: Eiji was the only one who fit.

“Niiiice,” Ash said later, in the light of eighteen candles. His eyes flicked to Eiji, then back. “But I’m a Leo.”


	18. Camera

The pictures were perfect – two years’ worth, rather than the planned two weeks, and so vivid they made those early photos, that first day in that basement bar, seem almost staged. He’d snapped pictures of everything – street chases and gunfights and the bloody bandages afterward. So much that the magazine suggested a book instead; so real that they wanted no part in publishing it.

But Ibe’s favorite, framed in his office, was softer, taken in a tired diner in a desolate part of New England. Three boys – Japanese, Chinese, and blond as the sun – laughing over sloppy burgers and Cokes.


	19. Egg

Shorter found it on the Cape, seemingly abandoned. Brown and speckled, it fit in his palm like a treasure. He moved it from its mud-and-feather nest into the fleece-lined inner pocket of his down vest.

It hatched as they were crossing the Rocky Mountains, wriggling and _peep-peeping_ until Shorter demanded Max pull over. He made everyone forage for bugs.

Ash said it was some kind of sandpiper. “Whatchya gonna call it?”

“Chan.” For Jackie Chan, of course. Shorter’s kung-fu hero.

Only later, as he stroked the spot between its downy wings, did Shorter whisper its real name. “Sleep now, Ei-chan.”


	20. Fly

It was like nothing he’d ever seen. The boy wore the face of a fighter – unlike anything Ash expected of this gentle-seeming kid. The gravel beneath his shoes crunched; the pole flexed. Creaked. For an awful instant, Ash was sure it would snap.

But it held.

It held, and Eiji flew. 

His silhouette against the stark sky burned Ash’s eyes. Something inside of him quavered, then broke. It was like stumbling across a Leonardo or hearing the soaring high notes of an opera. 

He forgot Arthur, Marvin. He forgot himself.

For ten glorious seconds, Ash’s whole universe was Eiji Okumura.


	21. Home

_Let’s stop fighting, Ash._ His voice is soft. Weary. _I didn’t want to do this._

No. I want to curl up and sleep someplace safe. Close to him.

He folds me up in an embrace so soft it aches like memory; I am glass, shattering. 

_I’m so glad you’re okay._ His voice is more breath than sound, as if he can barely speak and I understand. All the things I’ll never say stop up my breath.

I haven’t hugged anyone since kindergarten. Griffin. 

I slide my arms around him. Eiji sighs, leans closer and I feel his heartbeat. 

Finally. 

Home.

_[v11, p89-91]_


	22. Hoodie

They finally saw the Milky Way in the middle of Nebraska. The fire was burnt to embers and Shorter was snoring in the truck. Ibe had finally given up hovering to join Max in the warmth of the cab.

Alone, Ash and Eiji lay in silent contemplation of the stars, a hazy white stream against the black void of the sky. 

Wordless, Eiji rubs his bare arms.

Ash shrugs out of his hoodie, slides closer. He drapes it over them both and Eiji sighs, wriggling a fraction nearer to share the warmth. Then they turn back to the sky, awestruck.


	23. Jacket

It wasn’t until after everything settled down – after Griffin died and they all breathed their collective sighs of of disappointment and grief.

After Shunichi punched a hole into the wall in the hallway, bloodying his knuckles.

After the police claimed Griff’s body and took statements from Dr. Meredith, Ms. Brandish, and Eiji (Shorter flew the coop before the squad cars pulled up). After they headed across town, back to Charlie’s place.

Only then, as they climbed out of the cab in the pale light of early morning, did Shunichi actually look at Eiji. 

“God! What the hell are you wearing?”


	24. Prince

Sing found them discarded beneath a sofa. “What the–” He held one to the lamp, astounded by the steep curve of the heel, the sequins throwing flickers across the wall. It was like no shoe he’d ever seen.

Ten minutes later, YutLung paused in the doorway, bewilderment morphing into amusement.

_“I just want your extra time and your  
…kiss.”_

The boy pivoted in the platform ankle boots and threw his head back for the last word, eyes closed, lips puckered.

“Bravo!” YutLung called.

Sing’s eyes flew open, mortification staining his cheeks. “Fuck you!” he cried. “They’re your goddamned shoes!”


	25. Rooftop

Ash wakes to darkness and thunder rattling the windows. Eiji’s bed is empty. Open doors lead him to the roof, where flashes of lightning illuminate Eiji against the blackout city. Rain falls in torrents.

“It’s not safe out here!” Ash grabs Eiji’s arm.

“I am sick of safe,” Eiji insists, angry. Wind tosses his soaked pajamas. “Do not go out! Do not answer door! Now I cannot go on roof?”

Lightning slices the sky. “You could die out here!”

“You could die any time!”

Ash could argue. Instead, he weaves his fingers with Eiji’s. Instead, they face the storm together.


	26. Rowboat

There was a river near where Ash grew up. In the middle, a tiny island overgrown with wild blueberries. When he was little, that was his own private Neverland, the one place where nobody could find him.

He wanted to show Eiji; he stole a boat, pretended he remembered how to row.

They spent hours in that space smaller than a suburban backyard, and when they climbed back into the rowboat, the sun was low. Eiji’s sunburned shoulders and back were tattooed with designs painted in blueberry juice, and Ash’s purple-stained fingers gripped the oars with ease. Both were happy.


	27. Supernova

It wasn’t even a real kiss.

Eiji knew that. The capsule. The secret message. The hideously botched mission. So much bad – _really bad_ – stuff came from that kiss.

It certainly wouldn’t ever happen again.

Ash wasn’t conniving; he wasn’t insincere. But he was resourceful. Practical. A kiss as deception. As a tool. It matched well with the boy Eiji was coming to know.

But to Eiji, a kiss was more like a shoujo manga promise. Not of love, exactly, but something big. Something thrilling.

And when Ash had moved his mouth across his – for Eiji, it had been a supernova.


End file.
